Pages

Saturday, December 5, 2015

Virtual Cookie Exchange!

My friend, Annie at Doyle's Speech Works, is hosting a cookie exchange! Who doesn't love baking this time of year?

I have always had the hardest time with my cut-out cookies. Seriously. I never seem to get them the right thickness so they would either be too thin so they would be too crunchy, or too thick so you couldn't tell what shape they were supposed to be. Anybody with me?

Then I found the perfect recipe: Mosaic Glazed Sugar Cookies, courtesy of Kraft. To get them the right thickness, I found something on the internet to use as a guide: Perfection Strips. I just didn't feel like paying close to $20 for something I'm not going to use very often, so I improvised. I went to a craft store & bought these wooden slats for really cheap. (I don't remember how much I paid for them, I just know it was a lot less than $20!) I put the dough in between the slats & roll away. My dough is even & just the right thickness!

As far as the cookie recipe, you can play around with the flavoring. I've added almond instead of vanilla, and they were wonderful! You don't have to use the glaze, either. If you have a frosting recipe that you like, just slap some of that on there & you're set!

I made about a gazillion of these for my in-laws' 50th wedding anniversary, and I've made batches to send to my boys for Valentine's Day. They absolutely love them!

What a brilliant idea to use the wooden sticks to measure the thickness of the cookies! And I often substitute almond for vanilla extract too. I love almond flavoring!! Thanks for the great baking tips.